


Virtue Has a Veil, Vice Has a Mask

by LibidineTertius



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: A Lot of Very Questionable Sexual Etiquette. Bro., Cinderella AU, Gangbang, I Mean Plot Kept Trying to Sneak In But I Tried Really Hard to Keep it Back, M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Prats in Love or At Least in Lust, kind of. if you squint.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 07:40:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17219744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibidineTertius/pseuds/LibidineTertius
Summary: Merlin has never been to the castle, so he decides to go to the ball. And at the stroke of midnight... well, where did his clothes go?





	Virtue Has a Veil, Vice Has a Mask

The bells chiming the hour told Merlin what he should have known already: he’d waited too long. In his conjured finery, Merlin looked the part of any other party-goer at the masked ball, more or less. But the spell he was using had ended at midnight precisely every other time he’d practiced, and Merlin _knew_ what happened at midnight.

He _ran_.

Merlin dashed blindly through the unfamiliar halls of the castle, desperately hoping for somewhere discrete where he could lie low until he could do something about clothes and sneak back into the city to his own bed where he could remember tonight with pleasure. Of course, if someone _saw_ his clothes changing… well, Gaius had been very clear on what the Pendragons did to magic users.

There were footsteps behind him but Merlin couldn’t stop to look. He shoved through a door, slammed painfully into another, whispered a spell, and shoved through… out into a garden just as his clothes dissolved around him. Everything from his red velvet tunic to his highly polished boots were simply gone. Even his small clothes… gone. Though, from the weight on his face, apparently his glass-studded mask was still there. Great. “What are you doing?” an imperious tone demanded behind him. Merlin knew who it was without even turning. This couldn’t have been worse. 

Turning, Merlin smiled fixedly at the crown prince of Camelot, Arthur Pendragon. Even in his party mask, there was no mistaking him. Admittedly, Merlin hadn't recognized him ten minutes ago when the prat had been making snide little digs at him for daring to wear red- the Pendragons’ color- at the ball. And now, Arthur Pendragon, son of Uther Pendragon, had just caught him doing magic. “I…” What kind of excuse was there? At least the prince looked more stunned than angry so far. "You said I shouldn’t wear red.”

The blond scrutinized Merlin from his toes to his face, and Merlin resisted the urge to cover himself with his hands. “So… you…?” The prince started and then he paused, seemed to refocus himself, and _smiled_ “You’re still all in red,” he teased. “Especially your face. _And_ other parts.” Prince Arthur looked very meaningfully down. Merlin could have died of embarrassment, but he really didn’t have any excuses for why he was essentially naked on the palace grounds. Not with without mentioning magic. So, sure, the prince thought this was some really terrible attempt at seduction? Not that Merlin had any idea how to seduce anyone, let alone a prince. He was about to be arrested and they would figure out that he had used magic and he was going to die horribly. His smile may have been a little sick when he wavered, “I… thought you liked red?” Maybe the guards should just murder him now and put him out of his misery.

The prince laughed slightly and gestured sharply. “Is this what you came for?” he demanded.

 _No?_ “Yes, absolutely.” When all else failed, Merlin found faking confidence occasionally took him surprisingly far. (Of course, the rest of the time, it just got him in deeper trouble.)

“Well, alright.” The royal prat had a smile that while arrogant was also… sweet. Merlin stared at it, at him, and the man gestured for him to follow before idly barreling past Merlin and through the gardens in a winding route Merlin couldn’t have hoped to figure out himself. “They’ll be glad for the company.”

“The company?” Merlin echoed stupidly as the prince led him to a plain door, pausing there. “I mean, yes, I hoped they might be.” 

The prince turned, _looked_ at him (which reminded Merlin just _how_ naked he was, thank you), and tugged off his own outer robe, roughly shoving it at Merlin. “Just until we get there.”

Confused, but also relieved that he could cover himself, Merlin scrambled into the robe, holding it closed around his waist. It was a rich, vibrant red, naturally. Camelot’s royals seemed fond of red. He murmured his thanks and followed Prince Arthur through the door, down a hallway busy with servants (who barely glanced at him), up some stairs, and into a well-appointed room. It was a bit chilly, a bare tracy of a fire low in the grate, but there were tapestries on the well, rugs on the floor, and a very large bed with _pillows_. That was about when it really sank in: the prince brought him in here for sex.

The crown prince. Of Camelot. Brought Merlin. For sex.

And he’d said _they_ would like the company.

The idea was not unappealing. At all. What. The. Hell.

“It might be a few minutes,” Prince Arthur said, and waved at the fireplace. “I’ll ask someone to come build up the fire.”

“No, no!” Merlin said, face heating at the thought of someone walking in to see him waiting around to get fucked. “I know how to build up a fire. It’s fine!”

“Do you?” The prince asked, brows raised, but nodded. “Very well. If you’ll be patient.” Then his tongue slipped out and he licked his lips, just briefly, before ducking back out the door.

There was no sound of a lock behind him. If Merlin wanted to, he could just slip out. It would be a long, awkward trip home, but he could get back before Gaius woke up and found him missing. 

Instead, he knelt by the fire and used his magic to stoke it to life. It roared up, flickering cheerfully, and the room began to warm.

When the door opened again, it wasn’t the prince. It was a masked man with the livery of Camelot and a red cape who looked at him speculatively and smiled. “Well, hello.” Then there were more men behind him, all in the livery of Camelot and red capes. The greeted him cordially enough, but they were already loosely circling him, obviously very ready. Merlin’s pulse beat in his throat as he looked about himself, trying to wrap his head around this strange turn of fate.

The last one inside the room was Prince Arthur himself. The price closed and barred the door from the inside. Strangely, something in Merlin uncoiled at the sight. There were nine other large, well-built masked men in this room, any of whom could pin Merlin to the floor if he didn’t use his magic, but his eyes kept sliding back to the prince. He had a presence that was hard to ignore. Like a master of the revels, Prince Arthur said, “We’ve found it for the best if we keep your mouth full. We _could_ use a gag, but-“

As though on cue, a tall man with long, wavy blond hair stepped in front of Merlin and pushed down on his shoulders. “If you would?”

“Oi!” Arthur snapped. “Clothes first!”

The fellow stepped back and there was some jostling about as everyone else stripped off their court finery. Merlin couldn’t help but notice that they all left the masks on, though. Deniability, he supposed. If someone asked one of the knights if they’d seen their prince taking part in a gangbang, they could honestly say there _had been_ someone _about_ the prince’s height and coloring, but they weren’t really _sure_ … No one here would have to own up to anything in the morning. 

His own fingers trembled slightly as he drew off the striking red robe, folding it carefully. Merlin wasn’t poorly formed or anything, but he looked like a toothpick next to the knights, all of whom had at least two stone on him and had to be double his width in the shoulders. From their expressions, though, and from the rising of their members, they didn’t mind that a bit. There was a tap on Merlin’s shoulders and the blond knight was back. “Well?”

Merlin glanced down. His skin prickled. The man wasn’t _small_ down there. Sucking on his lower lip, Melin pushed the knight a little toward the bed so the man could rest his weight against the side and Merlin could kneel on the rug. The others murmured excitedly among themselves as Merlin put his hands on the blond’s thighs and arranged him a little before tipping his head back and taking in the first few careful inches of cock. His mouth immediately began to water at the heavy, musky weight on his tongue. Merlin supposed sucking cock was like tying your laces: an easy set of movements your body remembered even if it had been some time.

Strong hands settled into his hair and Merlin’s head was pushed a little further down, enough that he really had to focus so as not to choke. He turned his face to the side, looking up into the face of another knight. This fellow was a little slighter and swarthier with close cropped black hair, though just as fit. The man was smiling at his blond companion, barely looking at Merlin at all. Merlin hummed loudly to get their attention, as though to say _Oi, I’m still right here_ , but the hum only seemed to excite the blond knight who thrust into Merlin’s mouth hard enough that Merlin lost the seal of his lips and he was embarrassed to find himself slobbering about, spit coating the cock and his own chin.

He shuddered again, in surprise, a moment later, as two hands spread the cheeks of his arse wide and another hand began to spread cool oil along the rim of his hole. Merlin whimpered in anticipation, excited and a little nervous. He’d taken the woman’s position once before, back in Ealdor for a journeyman stone mason. The man had been passing through, on his way to meet his master, and it had been extremely agreeable once Merlin had gotten sufficiently loosened up. But Merlin hadn’t found an opportunity since. Now, apparently, he was going to be fucked at least ten times in a row, which seemed far too much for one man. But also intriguing. Exciting. He arched his back, thrusting his arse out, showing exactly what he wanted, and a wet fingertip slipped inside. The little sizzles of excitement burst through him from that single, soft touch, fizzling all the way down to his balls. Merlin would have encouraged deeper penetration, but the hand in his hair held him in place. All Merlin could do was groan and massage the cock with his tongue and breathe through his nose.

The finger in his hole didn’t go much deeper, but more oil was added along his crack and soon it was two fingers, pushing in together and scissoring inside him, stretching him a bit wider. A hand tapped his shoulder and a deep voice behind him warned, “Get ready and don’t bite.” So Merlin had a bit of warning before the hands on him moved and shifted until it was just two hands on his hips and a thick, blunt something rubbing against his oiled opening… obviously a cock, one that was slipping around on the oil. Merlin whined, wanting it _in_. Impatiently, he took a hand off the blond knight’s thigh, determined to reach back there and put it in himself, but then something shifted and-

Merlin moaned loudly, the sound muffled by the cock in his mouth. He’d forgotten what that first thrust felt like. Pain, mostly, but not exactly _bad_. Pain, the way clenching your fists or gnawing at your lip was pain, and far more pleasurable than either of those. It was a sweet sort of burn, as much mental as physical. And, from the way the knight behind him slid his cock in... and in... and _slowly _in, he wasn’t even as stretched on cock as he would be.__

____

____

“Someone grab his hands,” the blond was saying, both groaning and laughing. “I think he’s punching holes in my thighs.” There was general laughter at the good-natured complaint and then someone was taking each one of Merlin’s hands, leaving him on his knees, suspended between the hands and cocks, powerless. _If I wanted to_ , he thought quietly in the back of his own head, _I could knock them all on their arses with a wave of my hands._ But they were just getting started and he desperately wanted to keep going.

The cock in his arse bottomed out and then the real thrusting began, and maybe it was good that they’d kept his mouth full, because he was moaning like a back-alley whore looking for a tip, loving the strong hands and the thick cock. He was loving the way it stroked him inside again and again. His mouth kept getting shoved forward onto the blond knight’s cock and he choked, gagging a little, until his body got the idea. The knight moaned something and pulled out of Merlin’s mouth before slapping a callused hand over Merlin’s open lips and shamelessly coming on his face. Merlin squeaked, closing his eyes, but between the mask and the hand, not much got on him. “Think you can keep quiet for just a minute?” the dark haired knight asked while his friend kept a hand in place. “We need to trade places.”

Merlin nodded, and the blond moved his hand. Merlin opened his mouth for a deep breath, started moaning again as the man fucking his arse hit a particularly lovely angle. He shut his lips sheepishly while the knights laughed. They moved smoothly around him, though. The next knight- a slightly older fellow with a receding hairline and a huge barrel chest- took the first one’s place, pulling Merlin down again in one firm motion, cock immediately pushing past teeth and tongue to fuck his throat. Merlin sucked air in through his nose, a little startled, but did his best to just relax into it. Obviously, the knights were perfectly ready and willing to take over every bit of this and all Merlin had to do was _let_ them. Merlin wasn't sure he knew how to just surrender like that.

Without warning, a hand wrapped around his cock. Merlin shuddered, knees trembling a little as the stimulation was kicked up another notch. He couldn’t even move his head enough to see who was stroking him, because his face was all but shoved into the belly of the knight with the barrel chest. He was being held there, firmly pinned in place so his throat could massage the guy’s prick. So, no, he couldn’t see the knight touching his cock. He couldn’t even see who was fucking his arse, though he wondered if it was the prince. Merlin’s hips stuttered, thrusting a forward into the fist and back into the cock, unable to stay still. The fucking stuttered too, driving in hard several times before slowing, stopping, and… someone had just come in his arse, hadn’t they? Merlin moaned, feeling it trickle down his inner thigh. The moaning made the knight who was sheathed in his throat moan too. “Damnation, that’s good,” the man said, voice gone thick with lust.

“O-kay.” A clap and that stuck-up tone again… the prince, having fun. “Enough of that. Let’s get him up on the bed. You… can sit at the head so you can finish using him as a cocksleeve. He does seem to like it. Who gets his arse next?” Some conversation and then all the hands holding his hands and hair let go and the cock in his throat pulled carefully out. Merlin, blinking, almost fell over. He wiped, a little humiliated, at his wet face, while turning toward Prince Arthur’s voice. He opened his mouth to talk, but his throat was raw from fucking and nothing came out. “Chop chop!” the prince declared. “Are you slow? Up on the bed now!” 

Helpful knights boosted him onto the bed while the man who had been fucking his face suggested, “I’d have a go at his arse if anyone wants to swap.”

“Sure, we can swap,” agreed a young knight with a thin little mustache and long, dark hair down past his shoulders. “Or we can share his arse. Any objections?” he asked, looking around at the others.

Merlin opened his mouth, a little outraged that no one was asking him if _he_ minded. He was also trying to even imagine how they could _both_ fuck his arse at the same time. But the prince was waving them onward magnanimously. “Have at it. Lots of oil, mind you. But we need his mouth filled. He’s a bit of a moaner. Who's up for it?”

General chuckles while Merlin sputtered, and a knight with his hair all shaven volunteered. A bit of maneuvering and the older knight was reclining back into the pillows, the shaven-haired knight standing straddling him and knights on both sides of the bed grabbing at Merlin’s hips to encourage him to _sit_ on the older knight’s erect cock. Merlin licked his lips nervously. “This seems like a bad idea,” he rasped, not sure how he was supposed to take three men at once. 

“It’s fine,” the prince said. “If it makes you too loose, we don’t mind fucking you in pairs.”

Merlin might have pointed out that was whole-heartedly _not_ his concern, but the young man with the shaved head settled a hand on Merlin's chin and was bumping Merlin’s lips with his cock expectantly. “Not too deep yet,” the knight suggested. “Just watch your teeth.”

“ I haven’t been-“ Merlin started to say, but the cock slipped past his lips and Merlin had to open up or risk scraping the guy's cock with his teeth. Irritated at the impatience, he made a _Seriously?_ face at the knight, but the guy with the shaved head wasn’t even looking at Merlin anymore. Merlin, annoyed and bemused in equal parts, let it go while his arse was guided down over the oil-slicked erection. He shuddered as it began to breach him. His own cock bobbed eagerly between his thighs, and Merlin wondered when someone else was going to get _him_ off. 

Only about halfway down, though, firm hands were gripping his hips and repositioning him slightly. The three of them shifted carefully and the _other_ knight- presumably the fellow with the long hair- began to press in next to the first cock. Merlin whimpered as the first cock started to force itself in next to the first one. The fellow he was sucking urged, “Just focus on your mouth,” petting Merlin’s face. Maybe just keeping it in place. Whether this was intended altruistically or selfishly, Merlin took the advice, because it was that or start freaking out. He licked intently at the tip of the cock, rolling his tongue around it while his lips firmly gripped the shaft. The pain was increasing as he was stretched further, and Merlin breathed hard. Should he call a halt? Pull off and demand they stop or at least slow things the hell down?

Another _push_ from behind and he yelped as the second cock sheathed itself in firmly alongside the first. The knights cheered, congratulating one another, like it wasn’t _Merlin_ who had just managed to take them both. A bit shaky, he looked up at the shaven-haired knight, trying to communicate with his eyes that they were all a bunch of asses. If the man understood, he didn’t seem much to care. “A little deeper now,” the fellow said, taking either side of Merlin’s face and starting a steady rhythm of fucking that soon grew just as sloppy wet as the first time. All the while, Merlin hung onto the barrel-chested knight as though for dear life while two cocks fucked him open. Prince Arthur wasn’t even wrong: he was _enjoying_ it. It hurt. No doubt about that. But when he dared reach for his own cock, it jumped to his touch, moments away from coming. Merlin bet he could spend in a half-dozen tugs just from this.

“Oh, none of _that_ ,” drawled the prince, hands gently slapping Merlin's away from his erection. “You’ll get too sensitive to fuck. And we’re only halfway through. You’ve got a lot of cock to take tonight.” Merlin whimpered and would have glared at the man if he could. Instead, he could only make wet _glup_ noises as his mouth was fucked and hope the crazy intensity of having two men in his arse was enough to let him come untouched. Though… really, why should the prince get to say if he touched himself? That prat wasn't the boss of him in bed. Defiantly, Merlin grabbed for his cock again, firmly stroking himself as fast and hard as he could in case someone tried to stop him again. His need swelled. His balls drew up as his body tightened involuntarily. The knight crouched at his back, fucking him from behind, groaned loudly, but Merlin didn’t have time to pay him much attention as his own vision flickered. Merlin's eyes rolled up as he came, hard, on three cocks, spending messily all over himself and one of the knights.

He registered the laughter a moment before he realized why Prince Arthur had thought it a better idea to wait. Every inch of Merlin was sensitive now, skin alive and twitching in the aftermath of spending. Merlin whined, shocked by the difference. He supposed he shouldn’t have been; after all, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t touched himself in the aftermath of orgasm before. But his experience with sex was too limited to realize how overwhelming it would be. The knights slowed slightly, not pulling out, but thrusting less deeply while Merlin tried to get ahold of himself.

“You are the most eager tribute we’ve seen in awhile,” Prince Arthur said, patting Merlin’s thigh. “Just give it a moment. Who knows, you might have it in you to come on our cocks again if you’re that keen for it.” More laughter, but they gave Merlin a few minutes, chatting among themselves before the speed of thrusts picked up again. Merlin was still shaking a little, little ripples that traveled from toes to nape, but no one seemed to mind that he was a bit sex stupid. Now the pain in his arse was fading into a mild soreness. Even the ocean of spit and precome all over his face from the ardent thrusting of the cock in his mouth was fading into unimportance. And the mouthful of spunk he took a few minutes later… well, it wasn’t a great taste, but at least it meant that he could relax his poor, sore jaw once the cock was out. He just pressed his face against the man’s hip, relaxing and muffling his own voice while he was fucked stupid.

He must have faded out somewhere around them coming in his arse, because he only really focused again when he was laid on his back. He could feel come trickling out of his arse onto the fine sheets, but it wasn’t like _he_ was going to be the one doing the wash. A young knight with dusky skin and a flattened nose was lifting Merlin’s legs up over his shoulders and another was starting to take a place crouching over Merlin’s face. Merlin smiled dreamily to himself and opened his lips.

Some time before dawn, when the knights were quite done with him, Merlin relaxed face-down in a pillow, jaw too sore to open and throat too sore to speak, his arse up as far as it could go, spanked red to help tighten him up for a few of the last cocks. There was other men’s come on his face, his chest, his arse, his back, and his thighs, not to mention the mess his own come had made. His cock had- as Prince Arthur suggestion- risen to the occasion again, though they’d kept him from stroking himself off again by means of keeping his wrists pinned behind his back or over his head every time he tried. Merlin was a sore, sloppy mess, utterly wrecked, and even though no one was holding him in place anymore, he couldn’t move except to slowly slide his knees down the bed until he was laying face-down, his cock pinned between belly and mattress.

The knights patted his arse companionably as they washed up with damp towels and a basin, getting dressed again. “A fine time,” they congratulated one another. “Even better than last year.” Merlin considering lifting his face off the mattress to say something to them about being elitist pricks. To heck with it: he felt too good, too tired, and it wasn’t like they hadn’t done a _magnificent_ job of fucking him ragged. The lock rasped, the door opened, and their voices trailed off. Soon, the door closed again.

And then the bed sank beside him. A warm, callused hand rested on his back. “You get what you came for?” the prince asked, amused but not unkind. Merlin managed a sort of nod, which must have been enough, because Prince Arthur rubbed his back a little and comforted, “It was a true service you did us. And-“ he added, sounding a bit wicked, “-I’m reasonably certain you didn’t leave unsatisfied.”

The laugh that was punched out of his ravaged throat startled Merlin, and he managed enough energy to roll over. The room was a bit blurry while his eyes adjusted, but the hand that immediately wrapped around his hardened cock said the prince knew just where to look. “Maybe not _entirely_ unsatisfied,” the handsome prat said, touching Merlin so lightly he might have just been weighing his cock to see if it won a festival prize. 

Merlin’s eyes focused on that shit-eating grin and he managed a little smile of his own. He’d have said that he was too tired to even argue, but Merlin was never too tired to argue. “You might do something about that,” he rasped. “Since I am a _guest_.” He wasn’t even sure if and when Prince Arthur had fucked him tonight. Had he been the one pinning Merlin’s hands over his head and fucking his throat? Maybe part of the pair that had double teamed his arse against the wall while he’d been gagged? Or when they’d been raising and lowering Merlin off a man's cock while they made him play with his own nipples, was _that_ the prince? It had been one hell of a night. Merlin wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk, and his enchanted squash-coach had certainly disappeared when his clothes had. Maybe he could borrow a few haypennies for someone to deliver a message to Gaius that he wasn’t dead and might need clothes. And some willow bark tea.

“I suppose you are a guest,” the prince agreed and let go of Merlin’s cock to reach up to his face. Merlin jerked a little as fingers touched his mask, but Prince Arthur was just adjusting it, settling it properly back into place. Then he smiled and reached for the oil. Merlin noted all the discarded vials and chuckled to himself. They’d gone through a _lot_ of oil tonight. He’d probably have the softest arse in all of Albion. But the prince didn’t oil Merlin’s arse. He drizzled the oil over Merlin’s erection. It trickled, startlingly cool, down his shaft and over his balls. “You know,” Arthur said slowly, smirky smile still in place, “part of the reason we need the Tribute is that none of us can lose face enough to take the submissive position for one another. Wouldn’t do, would it? Rank and all. Especially if one is expected to _lead_ them.” 

Then, like something out of a wet dream, the prince straddled Merlin’s lap, kneeling on either side of his hips, and reached back to control Merlin’s cock while Merlin simply lay there dumbly. Arthur grimaced broadly as Merlin’s cock began to push into his body, grunting unattractively. “Shouldn’t I stretch you?” Merlin rasped, fists balled in the now-filthy bedclothes.

But Arthur just laughed. “Some of us aren’t _girls_ about it, Merlin.”

Merlin groaned a little as his cockhead squeezed past Arthur’s hole, ready to point out that if either of them were _girls_ they would have a bit more help from nature when it came to getting good and slick, but then what Arthur said registered. His hands shot up to grab the prince’s strong thighs, head spinning. “Wait… what did you just say?”

Shifty all of a sudden, the prince insisted, “I said you’re a girl.” He screwed his body down forcefully, taking half of Merlin’s cock in one go. Merlin groaned and covered his own mouth with an arm, even while he shook his head. _That was not what you said! You said my name! You know who I am!_ How did the prince know who he was? Not that this really seemed the moment for conversation, not while the handsome prince was resting his hands on Merlin’s chest for support and starting to _bounce_ on Merlin’s cock with a remarkable amount of skill. All those muscles were good for a lot more than swordwork. Arthur made some genuinely hilarious sex faces while he screwed himself vigorously on Merlin’s cock, slamming himself down on each thrust like he had something to prove and pulling back up slowly like he was catching his breath or, maybe, just taking a moment to savor. His cock wasn’t hard again yet, but from the way his face contorted with each downstroke, he was enjoying himself just fine.

When Merlin thought he could keep his mouth closed, he reached for Arthur’s hips, trying to take a little of the effort on himself instead of just lying there like a lump, but Arthur batted his hands away. Well, Merlin wasn’t going to stop the man from riding his cock, even if this was _extremely_ weird. “You shouldn’t come back here,” Arthur was saying while he impaled himself on Merlin’s erection, which just was _not_ fair. God in heaven, Arthur was _tight_. It scrambled Merlin's brain. “You were an idiot to come in the first place.”

“Hey now!” Merlin protested. Not that the prince was wrong. But still!

“Idiot,” the blond repeated, face flushed from exertion as he fucked them both relentlessly: wet, red mouth slightly parted and chest damp with sweat. Merlin wanted to rub his face against that chest and kiss those lips. He reached out again, this time just letting his fingers trail along Arthur’s thighs instead of trying to hold them. Arthur allowed it and murmured something like, “Never happened. Want it again.” Merlin knew better than to try and ask him to repeat himself. Instead, he just let go, back arching a little as he whimpered and came. Arthur kept riding his cock right through it. Then- hands braced on Merlin’s thin chest- he pushed himself off with a lewd _pop_ and stretched out fully alongside Merlin on the bed. Merlin reached for Arthur’s cock and, this time, the prince let him take it. He let Merlin stroke Arthur in slow, firm tugs. Let him play him thumb across the head and reach back to play with the balls. Giving a fellow a hand... at least _that_ was something Merlin was well-practiced with, and it didn’t take long before Arthur sighed and spent across Merlin’s thigh.

They lay there a moment, just letting the sweat dry. Arthur burrowed against him slightly, probably getting cold now that he wasn’t warming his blood with remarkably athletic sex. Merlin reached a hand in the direction of the hearth and used his magic to shift the wood. As fresh embers were exposed to the air, the fire crackled and the flames jumped. “So,” Merlin said quietly. “We’ve met?”

Arthur grunted, and Merlin thought he might not answer at all, but finally said, “Not exactly. Don’t suppose you remember the son of the Earl of Aylesford?”

“I can honestly say I have no idea who that is,” Merlin admitted, propping his head up slightly on one crooked elbow so he could see Arthur better. 

The prince cackled quietly. “Well, I’m sure he’d remember you. He was beating the blacksmith’s apprentice over... some trifle. Probably mostly for sport. You stepped in and basically challenged him to one-on-one combat.” 

“Oh _hell_.” He flopped onto his back again. Yes, Merlin definitely remembered the man now. Gaius had lectured him for weeks about that little indiscretion within two days of Merlin coming to Camelot. 

Arthur chuckled and pinched one of Merlin’s still-tender nipples. “Oh, yes.” 

“You were there?” Merlin thought he’d lucked out, that no one of import had seen his face or knew who he was.

“Camelot isn’t _that_ large, Merlin,” Arthur pointed out. “I wasn’t sure it was you, at first. But you're awfully mouthy, you peasant. And most nobles don’t make their own fires. Let alone so _efficiently_. The apprentice of the city’s apothecary, though? He surely would.”

Curiously, Merlin rolled his face to look at Arthur again now. The man had his chin propped on one hand, mouth insufferably smug. “You’re not having me arrested?” At the very least, he’d broken the sumptuary laws. 

Arthur shrugged and reached out to tap Merlin’s mask meaningfully. “Of course not. My knights and I bedded some son of noble blood who was eager to serve the crown.” Merlin gaped at the audacity of that lie, and Arthur let the fingers fall to caress Merlin’s swollen lips. “But you ought to stay to your apothecary shop and keep your head down for awhile. You know, in case the guests tonight recall anything beyond the haze of their wine.” Merlin sighed and nodded. Sensible. There was a long silence where Arthur just stared at him and kept touching his mouth, a thumb teasing past the lips to rest on Merlin’s tongue. “But… even a prince might have need of a tincture now and then,” he added quietly.

Merlin smiled and sucked the thumb into his mouth promisingly. If Gauis’ spell book didn’t explain how to soundproof a room, Merlin was going to figure it out himself. With or without his knights, he trusted Arthur to make him moan.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that as the seasons went on, we got to know lots of Arthur's knights, but part of me just wanted that first season when it was Merlin, Arthur, and ["the knights."](https://imgur.com/a/pzoew5t) Bro? Bro...
> 
> Sometimes, you just want to write filthy porn where everyone is in [masks](https://marsinos.com/products/masquerade-gold-bronze-venetian-medieval-renaissance-fantasy-half-eye-mask-adult) and a bunch of hot, burly guys fuck Merlin speechless. You know how it is.
> 
> (Also, the title is outright stolen from Victor Hugo. Shh.)


End file.
